SNAKES AND EARRINGS (Japan, 2008)
Directed by: Yukio Ninagawa
Starring: Yuriko Yoshitaka, Kengo Kora, Arata, Yu Abiru

While alone in a nightclub, straight-laced Lui (CYBORG GIRL’s Yuriko Yoshitaka) meets sensitive but troubled punk kid Ama (Kengo Kora of SAD VACATION). Mesmerized by his split tongue, she becomes obsessed with body modification and soon wants the same treatment. After Ama’s heavily-tattooed friend Shiba (20th CENTURY BOYS’ Arata) pierces her tongue, Lui finds herself inexorably drawn to both men – and to her growing list of desires, she now adds a tattoo.

Passions flare in acclaimed stage director Yukio Ninagawa’s Snakes and Earrings, a hyper-sexual anti-romance based on Hitomi Kanehara’s award winning 2003 novel of the same name. From its opening frame, the film spirals viewers through an oft-unseen side of Japanese youth culture: one filled with unbridled violent sex, excessive alcohol abuse, and gang brutality. The film acts as a witness to the breakdown of Japan’s youth, focusing on the trend-obsessed majority whose futures don’t include work, stress, or success.

Taking a cue from the amoral, bleak outlooks of LESS THAN ZERO and TRAINSPOTTING, SNAKE AND EARRINGS manages to paint an all-too-real portrait of lost youth that – for a great many – hits far too close to home. As Lui’s life spirals further and further into disarray, the boundaries between the priceless and insignificant blur, and the final decision of what this lost soul truly desires is virtually indistinguishable from the wants and needs of the woman she once was.

Joining the superb central cast is THE MAGIC HOUR’s Ichikawa Kamejirô as a hard-nosed a detective and KIKUJIRO’s Rakkyo Ide as the manager at Lui's on-again/off-again job. Shun Oguri (SUKIYAKI WESTERN DJANGO) and BATTLE ROYALE star Tatsuya Fujiwara, both of whom have previously starred in director Ninagawa's various stage plays, show up as troublesome gang members and TOMIE VS TOMIE’s Yû Abiru is wonderfully cast and as Lui's wary friend who quickly realizes she’s in the wrong company.

SNAKES AND EARRINGS is a sad, beautiful film that pushes the boundaries of societal views on today’s youth and breaks numerous barriers by unveiling a haunting, hidden side of Japan that – as this film so poignantly shows – may play a major role in shaping its future.